The Portland daily press., 1887-08-24
Punch, fair lady. punch with care,
Punch in the presence of the yisitaire.

funcn IN the presence OIL the YlS1taire.
Then the tape with the words punched in
to it is run through the automatic transmit
ter, which brings the matter out on the tape
again at the other end at the rate of 1900
words per minute.
The Morse system, with an Improvement
on the old code signals, is also used to some
extent, but in this Europeans are lamentably
weak. Their great, cumbersome instruments,
which look more like boiler makers ma
chimes, do not admit of very rapid work, and
it is indeed painful for one accustomed to
seeing the rapid easy workers in the United
States, to watch the English operator strug-
gllng painfully along with a key about the
size OF lemon squeezer, at the rate of twen-
ty words per minute at the utmost. Yet these
same operators and these same keys and
saunders in the London office have transmit
ted and received over 100000 kilograms out
side of news matter in one day.
There are 960 sets of instruments in use.
Some of these comprise four distinct ma
chimes, such as the WheatstOne and quadru-
plex systems. An of these instruments are
connected at the switchboard or test box
with the main lines by ''office wire" which,
il stretched out in one continuous line would
reach from Boston to Richmond, Va. This
office wire Is laid under the floors of the
rooms; each wire is labelled at the switch
board, and it requires but u moment to bring
any one wire, if needed, to the surface.
A special wing is reserved for the news de-
partment where all the special dispatches
for the newspapers and press associations
are transmitted. Over 1,250,000 words of
press matter have been handled in this wing
in one night
Three miles of shelving, situated in the
basement, are barely sufficient to accommo-
date the $4,000 cells of battery which infuse
electric life into the 5000 terminal wires run
ming in and out of the building
The entire staff Of the London office num-
bers 2.360 The day force is composed al
most wholly of women, while the men do the
work at night. The operators are taken
from the ranks of the check clerks as they
grow older and proficient in teegraphy.
When check clerk has learned enough to
take charge of very important wire he is
placed on the pay roll as probationer, re-
ceiving the modest sum of twelve shillings
weekly. On passing his regular telegraph
examination one year later, his pay is in
creased to fourteen shillings until he gradu-
ates as second class clerk or operator.
The following is list of salaries paid:
Second class clerks e45 to 800 yearly, by an
nual increase of Go.
First class clerks-eloo to e140 yearly, by an
nual increase of e6.
Senior clerks-el5O TO eI9O yearly by annual
Increase of e3
~, assistant superntendent-e21o to e40o yearly,
py annual Increase of eI5,
SubcOntroller-e47O to e50O YEARLY hv animal
increase of e2O O0 S0"iiJ' w '''iiuo1
Controller-e900.
FROM financial standpoint the English
srI .0t 40 laI uetter on than the American.
Inc government controls all the talaoranhs
ana IA order to secure good service places q
premium on steadiness and sobriety. When
man becomes confirmed drunkard or 9th
eerwisee misbehayes after repeated warnings
he is dismissed the service and can nevar 81
enter it, This is not the case in the ITniteJ
States. have known hundreds of men To
walk from one company's Office into another
after having violated every rule in the ser
vice. The drunkard element is unknown in